For the third time this season, India enter a major assignment on the back of very poor or next to no regular preparation.
Keeping up with a growing tradition in Indian cricket, the men in blue take on Hong Kong in their Asia Cup opener in Dubai on Tuesday with a grand total of one complete training session as a team under their belt.
The substantial chunk of the Indian contingent was in England fighting it out in a five-Test series until last week. Last Tuesday was the final day of the fifth Test as India sunk to a 4-1 series win. Players like KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Jasprit Bumrah played the last Test while Hardik Pandya played before.
The other half of the Indian team, without captain Kohli who decided to skip the Asia Cup, landed in Dubai in bits and pieces and trained over the last three days. The entire team practiced together only on Monday, a day before their tournament begins.
In a tournament that has the top Asian sides competing in the sapping September heat of UAE on pitches that are turning out to be very challenging for batsmen and bowlers, it is one of the worst preparations a team can possibly have.
India captain Rohit Sharma.
But those who have followed Indian cricket should not be surprised. The Indians have made it habit of preparing poorly for important assignments.
In the beginning of the year, India played a three Test series in South Africa without a single warm-up match before it. In England, they entered the five-Test series with one truncated warm-up match and five days off before the opening clash.
A tight calendar is being blamed for such poor preparation. India were busy with an ODI and T20 series against Sri Lanka at home – days before the first Test in South Africa. Three players from that ODI series played in the South Africa Tests – Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Bumrah and Pandya.
Then in England, the entire Test team got to play one warm-up match. Limited overs matches before the Tests against Ireland and England were made to look like preparation. A few players like Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma played county cricket and it helped them.
But the end result was India lost the Test series in South Africa and England.
The Asia Cup will be as challenging, maybe even more. With temperature over 40 Degrees and humidity close to 40 per cent, conditions are extremely tough. To top it, the pitch in Dubai is sluggish.
And then there are the opponents who have prepared well. Pakistan held an extended camp in Lahore and played practice matches before the series. Bangladesh showed they are in peak condition as they thumped Sri Lanka in the tournament opener.
India have had one full training session. Rohit Sharma and Co, who play two ODIs in two days with the second one being against Pakistan, who would have almost three days of rest for the fixture. Best of luck to India.
